Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Choice is an Illusion President Margaret Dore States Hawaii Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia Act Must Be Rejected

Attorney Margaret Dore, president of Choice is an Illusion, which is fighting assisted suicide and euthanasia legalization efforts throughout the United States, made the following statement in connection with an assisted suicide/euthanasia bill set for hearing tomorrow in the Hawaii State Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor. The bill is SB 1129 S.D. 1.

“The bill seeks to pass a proposed act legalizing assisted suicide and allowing euthanasia,” said Dore. “If enacted, the act will apply to people with years or decades to live. The act is a recipe for elder abuse, especially for people with money, meaning the middle class and above in the inheritance situation.”

Margaret Dore

Dore said, "The proposed act allows the patient's heir, who will financially benefit from the patient's death, to actively participate in requesting the lethal dose. After that, no doctor, not even a witness, is required to be present at the death. Even if the patient struggled, who would know?"

"But, it gets worse," said Dore, "the death certificate is required to list a terminal disease as the cause of death, which prevents prosecution." Dore explained, "The official cause of death is a terminal disease (not murder) as a matter of law. For inheritance perpetrators, the death certificate is a 'stay out of jail free card.'”

Dore stated, “If enacted, the proposed act will legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia for people who are 'terminal,' which is defined as a doctor's prediction of less than six months to live. In real life, such persons may have years or decades to live."

"Doctors can be wrong about life expectancy, sometimes way wrong," said Dore. "This is due to mistakes and the fact that predicting life expectancy is not an exact science. A few years ago, I was met at the airport by a man who at age 18 or 19 had been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and given 3 to 5 years to live, at which time he would die by paralysis. His diagnosis had been confirmed by the Mayo Clinic. When he met me at the airport, he was 74 years old. The disease progression had stopped on its own."

Dore stated, “The proposed act is based on a similar law in Oregon. In Oregon, a young adult with insulin dependent diabetes is ‘terminal’ because the six months to live is determined without treatment. A typical insulin dependent adult will live less than a month without insulin. Such persons are therefore ‘terminal’ for the purpose of assisted suicide.”

Dore added, “By contrast, with insulin, such persons may have decades to years or decades to live.”

Dore concluded, “The proposed act will create the perfect crime and encourage people with years or decades to live to throw away their lives. The act must be rejected.”

For more information, see “Dore Memo Opposing SB 1129 SD1,” which can be viewed at these links: memo and appendix.